Stop subsidizing pro sports so Indy can hire more police

Over the past five years, no one on the Indianapolis City-County Council has been more publicly critical of Mayor Greg Ballard than I. I have disagreed with a great many of his policies and methods. Yet, I was the lone Democrat council member to vote to sustain Mayor Ballard's veto of the proposal to divert $6 million in public infrastructure funding to shore up public safety efforts. Such an apparent about-face deserves a public explanation.

Indianapolis is indeed in the midst of a public safety crisis, with murders mounting and our police force ranks continuing to shrink. I believe we need more officers overall, particularly patrolling the streets. However, before we can appropriately remedy the officer shortage, it is important to understand its origins.

Why are we so short-handed police officers? Simply put, recruitment has not kept up with the growing needs of our city and the retirement of veteran officers. So why then wasn't money spent to ensure adequate numbers of police officers? Simply put, money was spent on other things, namely so-called economic development.

Over the last few years, through the use of the Downtown TIF district, tax abatements or direct cash payments to a few and select number of private companies, luxury apartment developers and professional sports teams, hundreds of millions in public tax dollars was diverted from essential city services, like public safety, parks and public transportation.

We shouldn't have to forgo important neighborhood services, such as public infrastructure, to provide others essential services, like public safety. Instead, the city simply needs to get out of the "business" of subsidizing particular private businesses, including Indy's pro sports teams. Doing so will free up tens of millions dollars annually. That's more than enough to fund an adequate police force and perhaps even rebuild our parks and public transportation.

Brian Mahern

Council member, District 16

Indianapolis-Marion City-County Council

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Stop subsidizing pro sports so Indy can hire more police

Over the past five years, no one on the Indianapolis City-County Council has been more publicly critical of Mayor Greg Ballard than I. I have disagreed with a great many of his policies and methods.